There's Still Hope
by spinz99
Summary: Starting when Derek comes back from D.C. with Meredith, this is their story dealing with love and family. AU in where DEREK DOES NOT DIE
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This is a story that will begin where Derek came back to Meredith from D.C., fill in the blanks, and continue on of what would have happened if Derek was there after 11x22. Thanks for reading!**

Meredith couldn't believe that he was here. She had hid her emotions for so long, and her anger and fear got the best of her, so when Derek called Post-it, choking up, her walls got broken down one by one. She took a deep breath as his teary eyes stared at her and said "_I can live without you, but I don't want to…..I don't ever want to." _Relief washed over his face, and she gave him the slightest of smirks. They both looked at each other for several moments, just waiting for the other to move. Fear and insecurity gnawed away at her, but she slowly walked over to Derek.

She reached him, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He stayed still for a moment, until he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and an arm around her waist. They both breathed sighs of relief and relished in peace finally.

They stayed that way in silence for who knows how long until Meredith said "I really have missed you"

"I have really missed you too" he whispered, breathing in her lavender scent, "I'm so sorry."

She didn't say anything in reply, but decided to acknowledge it and move on. All that mattered was that he was here now and that he really was sorry.

Meredith's long day suddenly struck her with fatigue, and Derek heard her yawn softly.

"We should get some sleep" he said softly, pushing her hair back.

"Yeah"

She started walking to their room, when she noticed that he wasn't following after her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Well…I just thought that maybe you didn't want me to sleep in our bed," he said looking at the floor and rubbing his neck.

"No, I want you here. I really do."

He looked up at her and then followed after her. They didn't bother changing or anything, they just kicked off their shoes and crawled under the sheets.

He gently placed a hand on her waist, and she backed up into his warmth. Derek listened quietly until Meredith fell asleep, until he allowed himself the privilege too, he already was trying to do everything in his power to prove that he didn't want to live without her.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for reading! There's still hope for us MerDer fans!**

**Disclaimer: all Shonda's**

Meredith woke up with light shining in her eyes. 'That's a first" she thought, since it had been a long time since she had slept in, or even for the matter gotten a decent night's sleep. She rolled onto her back and reached out to the place next to her, but it was empty. She looked around their room, but there was no sign of Derek. She would have almost thought she had dreamt the whole thing up, if not for the smell of pancakes beckoning her to get up. She then realized that she was still in her clothes from yesterday, so she hopped into the bathroom to take a quick shower, and then changed quickly. She padded through the hallway in her bare feet into the kitchen and smiled immediately from the scene before her.

Zola and Bailey were in their chairs eating apples and pancakes, with of course giant globs of syrup all over. Derek looked up from the stove to smile at her and handed her a cup of coffee.

"Hey sleepyhead" he joked. She was glad to see his smile again and was glad most of the drama had passed.

"You could have woken me up you know"

"Well, we all know I would have still have made the pancakes"

"Who says I couldn't?" she asked lifting an eyebrow.

He snorted and she lightly slapped him on the shoulder.

"There is such thing as pancake mix in a bottle" she argued.

"Sure" he said hiding his smile by taking another drink of coffee.

He gave her a plate of pancakes before they sat at the table with their two giggling kids. Meredith smiled as she wiped smudges of syrup off of Bailey's face and Derek talked with Zola.

Her day off went by completely fast. Meredith and Derek played with the kids and watched movies with them, including Derek pulling out the old princess crown and tea set to play with Zola. The only time that they had to talk to one another was during the kids' naptimes, but they were both exhausted from running after energetic kids that they fell asleep on the couch.

Meredith was the first to wake up, so she ordered pizzas for dinner, then went back to sit back on the couch. This time instead of him waiting for her to wake up, she waited for him. She leaned her head on his chest, and waited several more minutes before with a small hesitation she gently kissed him. He blinked open his eyes and looked down at her, wrapping arm around her.

"Did we fall asleep?" he laughed, trying to make her wakeup call not a big deal.

"It appears so" she smiled.

"We must be getting old" he laughed.

"No just you" she smirked, before she jumped off the couch to get the kids up.

He smiled to himself, before he got up to follow her.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N- Thank you to everyone who either favorited or followed this story! **

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

Derek and Meredith tiptoed into Zola and Bailey's room. They walked over to Zola's bed, and Meredith rubbed circles on her back. Zola moaned and kicked out trying to fall back asleep.

"She's just like you when you wake up" Derek whispered to Meredith, smiling down at Zola.

"Zozo, come on, we're gonna eat dinner and then you can go back to sleep"

Zola made no attempt to get up.

"I got pizza!" Meredith said.

Zola shot up in her bed with big eyes, and Bailey had gotten up too, jumping in his crib. "Yay, yay, yay" they both shouted.

"What have you done to our kids?" Derek joked.

Meredith gave him a look, but eventually started laughing with him. The doorbell rang for the pizza and she looked at him.

"I'll get the kids, you get the pizza" he smiled.

She nodded and started walking to the door, when he shouted after her "I'm making a salad though."

Dinner was loud. The kids ate their pizza like wolves and giggled the entire time. Bailey even had pizza in his hair. Derek, of course, had to make a salad, but when he gave some to the kids, things turned for the worse.

"No!" Zola screamed.

"Come on it's good for you"

"No no" Bailey joined in.

"Are you gonna back me up?" he asked.

"No you're doing great" she smiled.

Derek began to try to convince Zola and Bailey again, but before he could say a word, a bowl of salad was hurtling towards his head. It hit his forehead smack-dab, and the only thing that could be heard was the bowl hitting the floor. Meredith covered her mouth, and Derek's face was stuck in a state of shock.

Bailey started giggling, and was soon joined by Zola. Meredith looked at Derek who had salad sticking out from his hair in every direction, and snorted. She joined in her kids laughing, and Derek tried to be mad, but soon the whole house was full of his laughter too.

Meredith gave the kids a bath, to get all of the pizza out of their hair and off their faces, while Derek picked up the kitchen, which had a lot of salad on the floor. The kids went to bed right away, she guessed that they were tired from all the screaming and laughing, so she went back into the kitchen.

Derek was standing at the sink doing the dishes, and she walked over to him.

"The kitchen looks normal again"

He smiled drying off his hands. "Yeah, that was something alright"

She covered her mouth, trying not to laugh again, and he gave her a confused look. She walked the distance between them, where she could feel his breath against her face. She reached up into his hair and then let go again, taking a step back.

"There was lettuce in your hair" she smiled.

"Oh, haha" he nervously laughed, and ran his hands through his hair. She noticed the uncomfortable atmosphere and walked back to him, placing her hands in his hair.

"I think there's more" she whispered.

"Oh I thought I-"she cut him off with a gentle kiss. He took a second to compose, before he kissed her back. He wrapped one arm around her waist, while the other ran through her hair. She felt his tongue against her lips, and she deepened the kiss. A minute later they both pulled back gasping for air, and Meredith smiled up at him.

"You're sneaky" he smiled back.

"Mm-hmm" she pulled his hand, leading him into their bedroom.

Amelia was just about to fall asleep, when she heard the two of them in their festivities. She rolled her eyes, then grabbed an old pack of Derek's ear plugs, trying to fall back asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I never have my laptop over the summer, but I'm back so be expecting many updates! Thanks for reading!**

The alarm went off with a loud shrieking noise that jolted both Meredith and Derek from their sleep.

"Ughhhh…" Meredith groaned. She hit the alarm off with a slap of the button, and then rolled over into Derek's chest.

"Morning" he mumbled. She craned her neck up to his smiling face above hers. He kissed her lightly on the head and she returned his smile. She stretched like a cat and yawned before asking "Are you ready for your first day back to work?" She knew that he had told her that he wanted to be back for good, but she still had doubts with him leaving his job big job in D.C.

"Absolutely" he responded. He looked over her shoulder to the clock. "Speaking of which we should probably get a move on."

She huffed and rolled over onto her back. She had always hated mornings, but he was always up and moving before she could even think straight. He laughed at her dramatized huffs as he pulled on his pajama pants, "I'll go make some coffee."

Meredith heaved herself out of bed and went through her daily routine of taking a shower, brushing her teeth, etc. Because she always got up this early for work, her body just went on autopilot. She stared in her closet for a while, but decided to just put on the first thing she saw since she would be changing into her scrubs in no time anyway. She heard Derek walk in and he said "The kids are eating breakfast, there is coffee and bagels." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and then hurried into the bathroom to get ready himself, so they wouldn't be late (He usually took longer to get ready than her because of all his hair treatment).

Meredith went to the kitchen and grabbed her coffee before Zola screamed out "Morning mamaaa!"

"Morning Zozo, Morning Bails"

She grabbed a bagel and munched on it before grabbing the kids' shoes and putting them on because for some reason it always seemed to be a reason for them being late.

Derek strolled out of their room with his bed-head hair now looking tamed and somehow perfect. He saw her admiring him, so he smirked and she looked away shaking her head slightly red.

"Ready?" she asked. Meredith was a little nervous to go back herself since all of her friends would have millions of questions about Derek and her since she had taken the day off yesterday.

"Ready" If Derek was worried or nervous, she couldn't tell, he either wasn't or was good at hiding it.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N In this chapter, I will not reiterate what was already seen or told in the actual episode, instead I will show it from the other person's view or something we as the audience may not have seen. (Also thank you for all of the reviews and continued support! ****)**

They pack the kids in the car, Zola bouncing up and down excited for daycare, while Bailey looked like he was still waking up. Both Meredith and Derek walked to the driver's seat and they looked at each other confused.

"Oh..um you can drive" he said.

"No, I actually prefer being a passenger" she handed him the keys and walked around to the other side of the car.

The rest of the car ride was spent in silence, except for Zola softly singing her alphabet in the back seat. Meredith reached for her coffee and glanced over at Derek every time she took a sip. He seemed tired and kept pulling his fingers through his hair making it a bit disheveled. He parked in a spot close to the hospital, and they unbuckled Zola and Bailey and brought them to daycare.

"Bye Zozo" they both hugged her, before kissing Bailey on the forehead "Bye Bailey, have fun!"

They walked side by side out of the daycare wing and towards the elevator. They received many glances, most out of curiosity. When they got on the elevator, Derek looked over at her and smiled. He reached out for her hand and squeezed it.

"Are you okay Derek? You seem nervous, are you sure you don't want me to go with you to talk to Amelia?"

"I'm good, I actually was…um….wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me."

Meredith held back a smile and then couldn't help it and laughed, "You know I am your wife, you don't have to ask me."

"Well I am anyway" he smiled back.

She smiled then rolled her eyes before looking back at the elevator doors.

"So your answer is—"

"Yes, for god's sake" she squeezed his arm and kissed him on the cheek, as the doors opened.

They changed into their indigo scrubs quickly before he gave her a quick kiss and she gave him a "good luck" before parting off.

Meredith had been super busy that day between the cop shooting packing the ER, talking to families, and explaining the past day to her friends, that she had not seen Derek at all except for a brief smile in the hallway. Currently, she was in the OR performing a transplant, she felt eyes on her so she looked up into the gallery briefly to see Derek sitting with a younger girl that she recognized from the visiting elementary school. He was smiling with those sparkling eyes of his and that was the moment that she realized that coming home had truly changed him. Usually it was her watching him in surgery, rather than the other way around.

After the surgery ended, she scrubbed out, and talked to the family, she went to the attendee's lounge where Derek had texted her that he would be.

"Hey."

He looked up from the medical journal he was reading and smiled "Hey. You were amazing in there."

"It was just a transplant, no once-in-a-lifetime surgery."

"You were still amazing." He got up from his chair and walked over to her wrapping his arms around her waist. She leaned up and kissed him softly reaching her hands up into his hair. "You never did tell me what this date was." She laughed, biting her lip.

"Well that's because it's a surprise."

"Ohhhh~ interesting."

"I'm not telling you!" he exclaimed laughing at the mischievous expression on her face.

"What? I only said it was interesting!"

"Uh-huh" he nodded because kissing her again.

Their night was pretty uneventful, they picked up the kids from daycare, and had tacos for dinner since Zola and Bailey chanted the word the entire drive home. Then after they put them to bed, they had time to rest.

Derek was lounging on the couch watching some show in which he had no idea what was going on, when Meredith walked over and handed him a glass of wine, sipping her own while curling up to his side, placing her head on his chest as he wrapped an arm around her.

"What are you watching?" she asked after a couple minutes.

"I have no clue." He sighed, she giggled.

"How was your day?" she asked peering up at him.

"Pretty good. I clipped an aneurism. I forgot how exciting it is to change a life, being in that lab in D.C. I've missed it. Amelia still thinks I'm out to get her job though." He huffed, running his hands through his hair again. "I just don't know how else to prove to her that I've changed."

Meredith thought for a minute and said "I would talk to her and tell her that you're here to stay, and if that doesn't work just keep doing what you're doing, she'll realize it eventually." "Actually I think that's her sitting on the deck outside…."

He lifted his head from the back of the couch to peer out the window. "I think you're right. I'm gonna go talk to her. Thanks Mer." He kissed her on the head as she shifted out of his arms, he got up and walked to the screen door as Amelia looked over at him.

By the time Derek finished talking to Amelia, he came into their room to find Meredith lightly snoring. He changed into pajamas and slid into bed with her. He was actually really excited for their date and he schemed more details until he fell asleep.

**What is his plan? Find out in the next chapter **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**** Sorry for the wait guys, school started up, and things got crazy. Hope to update more frequently.**

Meredith was woken by a tray being placed in front of her. She jumped, a bit scared, then rubbed her eyes and opened them to see Derek's smiling face right in front of her. She looked down and saw a plateful of French toast and orange juice.

She smiled sleepily, "What's all this?"

"Breakfast." He kissed her softly.

"Yeah but why?"

"Because." He smiled teasingly, she laughed biting her lip.

She grabbed the fork and took a giant bite from the French toast. She fed him a bite, and laughed as syrup dripped down his chin. They ate in silence watching the other sleepily gobble down food. When she finished her feast, she plopped her back to the bed and held her stomach. He laid down next to her, pushing the empty tray to the side.

She looked up at him curiously "So what is this date thing?"

"Well, wouldn't you like to know" he laughed at her defiant look.

"Actually I would." She remarked.

"Okay I will tell you two things. One, it is going to be very nice. Two, it will be especially nice, considering as you know I need to return to D.C. for the last time this weekend, and I want to spend time with you."

She stayed silent for a moment, "Those were the same thing."

"Hmm…okay missy. Two, the kids are with Amelia, so we just have the day to ourselves."

She lifted her head from the bed, him finally getting her attention "The whole day?"

"Uh-huh"

"With no kids?"

"Uh-huh"

"I think this date got much better."

Derek told Meredith to dress nice, and to bring a sweater. She pulled on her clothes quickly, excited to get this whole date thing started (even though honestly she thought it had kind of already began).

She scurried to the car and got in before he pulled off the one road leading away from their expansive property. Before long they had reached the ferry docks, and Meredith grasped his hand as they floated over the water.

"I never really take time to appreciate the land that we live around. Usually, when we ride the ferry, I'm just worried about getting to work."

He nodded his head surveying the land around him too, before he pulled his fingers through her hair that continued to blow wildly in the wind.

After they got off the ferry, they spent most of their day walking through the main city of Seattle, window shopping at boutiques (not really buying anything), and getting lunch the place where they had first gotten breakfast at, many years ago, when Derek refused to give up on pestering her to eat a real breakfast.

"Hmm what sounds good? Maybe some cold pizza? Or left-over grilled cheese?" he teased.

She swatted him under the table, laughing before saying "That actually sounds good."

She ordered their grilled cheese (even though it was not leftover or cold) and he ordered a salad, even though he managed to steal a good amount of Meredith's fries.

When they walked back to the docks at about sunset, Meredith draped an arm around his lower-back and leaned her head against his shoulder, as he brought her closer placing an arm around her shoulders.

She sighed. "This has been really fun"

"What are you talking about? We're not done here, in fact we are far from this date being over."

"Really?"

"Of course! Unless you don't think you can handle it? Getting old are we?" he smirked, lifting an eyebrow at her.

She looked up at him with an incredulous face. "Derek Shepherd, you are going to pay for that."

He raced onto the ferry boat, with her closely following, laughing like crazy, as bystanders looked up at them with smiles.


End file.
